Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen

In the early 1950s, Toby Temple's success grew from day to day.He played at the top nightclubs—Paris Tower in Chicago, the Latin Club in Philadelphia, the Copacabana in New York, and at welfare hospitals and children's hospitals, as well as for charities—he could play for anyone, at Perform anywhere, anytime.The audience is his life.He needs the applause and love of the audience.He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the acting industry.Some major events were happening in the world, but to Toby, those events were nothing more than good for his show. When MacArthur was fired in 1951, he said, "The veterans are not dead—they're just fading away." Toby said, "Jesus—we must use the same terminology."

When the hydrogen bomb was developed in 1952, Toby's reaction was: "It's none of my business. It's just that you'll be in time for my opening ceremony in Atlanta." When Nixon delivered a speech with his dog, Toby said, "I'm going to vote for him right away. Not for Nixon—it's for the puppies." Eisenhower became president, Stalin died, young America wore the bonnet, and there was the bus boycott civil rights movement in Montgomery. All these things are the material of Toby's performance. When he plays a spirited figure with wide-eyed, bewildering innocence, audiences scream.

All his life, Toby was good at saying some extremely witty things. "...so he said: 'Wait a minute, I'll have my hat on before I can go with you...'" And, "...seriously, that thing looks so good, I've been eating it myself. "And, "...the LSD store, but, they had to call me..." And, "...I was supposed to be a private detective..." And, "...now I'm catching up You, but, no boat..." And, "My luck. I got the edible part..." and so on.Audiences will laugh and cry when they hear it.His audience loves him, and he has built a reputation and climbed higher and higher based on the audience's love.

But there was always a deep sense of restlessness in Toby's mind.He is constantly seeking something more.He could never be content with himself, because he was always afraid of missing a better ball, or neglecting an opportunity to perform in front of a better audience, or to kiss a more beautiful girl.He changed girls as often as he changed his shirts.After this experience with Millie, he was afraid to get too involved with any girl.He remembered how he had been on the low-level tour, how he had envied big actors in limousines with beautiful women.He can do all that now too.But he was as lonely now as he was then.Who once said: "When you reach your goal, everything will be flat..."

He is committed to making himself a first-rate star, and he knows he will.His only regret was that his mother could not see her prophecy come true. The only thing that reminds him of his mother is his father. A private nursing home in Detroit is a dilapidated brick building from the last century.The smell of old age, disease, and death seeped from the walls. Toby Temple's father had already suffered a stroke and was now almost vegetative, listless and numb.He couldn't think of anything other than looking forward to Toby's visit.Toby stands in the lobby of the nursing home where his father was adopted.The hall was dirty and dark, with a green carpet on the floor.The nurses and the people living in the hospital crowded around Toby in reverence.

"Toby, I saw you at Harold Hobson's play last week. I thought you were wonderful. How did you come up with so many clever things to say? How did you come up with it?" "That's what my writers came up with," said Toby.Everyone laughed at his modesty. A male nurse pushed Toby's father along the corridor.His father had just shaved and his hair was brushed back to shine.He also asked someone to change him into a new suit for his son's visit. "Hey, that's pretty handsome Blommel!" exclaimed Toby.Everyone turned to look enviously at Mr. Temple.They hoped that they, too, would have such a wonderful and famous son as Toby to visit them.

Toby walked up to his father and leaned over to give him a hug. "Who are you trying to coax?" Toby asked.He pointed to the male nurse and said, "You should push him away, Dad." Everyone laughed and jotted down the punchlines.That way, they could tell their friends that they had heard what Toby Temple had to say. "I was with Toby Temple the other day and he said... I was standing by Toby's side as close as I was to you and I heard him say..." He stood in the middle, amusing them, teasing them gently.They both love being teased like this.He mocked their sex lives, their health, their children.In the end they were amused by everything about themselves, too.

Finally, Toby said sadly: "I hate to leave you guys. You guys are the best audience I've had in years"—and they'll never forget that—"But, I have to Talk to Dad alone. He promises to tell me some new jokes too." Some of them smiled, some laughed, and everyone respected and loved him. Toby and his father sat alone in the small drawing room.The room smelled of death, too, but Toby thought to himself, "That's the way a place is, isn't it, Death?" It's full of dying fathers and mothers who are supposed to be in the way.They had all been taken out of the little bedrooms at home, out of the dining room and drawing room.For there, when visitors come, they are an element of embarrassment.They are sent to this nursing home by their children or nephews and nieces. "Trust me, it's all for your own good, Dad, Mom, Uncles, Aunts, and Aunts. You're going to be with a lot of nice people your age. You're going to be companions all the time. Do you know what I mean?" they What it really means is: "I'm sending you out there to die with all the other useless chumps. At home you'd be babbling around the table telling the same stories over and over, pestering us Wet your beds, children, it would be unbearable to us."

Eskimos are more frank in this regard.They simply sent the old man to the ice and left him alone. "I'm so glad you came today," said Toby's father.He spoke slowly. "I wanted to talk to you. I heard good news. Art Riley next door died yesterday." Toby looked at him. "How is this good news?" "That means I can move into his room," his father explained. "It's a single room." That's what older people think about: living on, clinging to the remaining comforts of life.Toby saw such people here, in fact, they are more comfortable dead than alive, but they would rather live. "Happy birthday, Mr. Dorset. How would you feel if you were ninety-five today?"

"I feel beautiful when I think I'm not dead at all." Finally, it was time for Toby to leave. "I'll come back to see you as soon as I can," Toby promised.He gave his father some cash and generously tipped all the nurses and waiters. "You take good care of him, huh? I need this old man very much for my performance." Toby is gone.He had forgotten all about them the moment he walked out the door.He was thinking about his performance that night. But for weeks at the nursing home, all the talk was about Toby's visit.

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